DAILY GK UPDATE - 7th January

1.    Nation celebrates Gurpurab

i. Sikhs from across the world are celebrating the birth anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh Today.

ii Guru Gobind Singh,the 10th guru of Sikhs was born on this day in 1666 at Patna in Bihar. daily

iii. People in large number are visiting Gurudwaras to participate in the programmes being organised to celebrate 348th birthday of Guru ji.

iv. Bhog of Akhandpath were performed today in the Gurudwaras and continuous recitation of Gurbani is going on. Special seminars are being organised today to tell the teachings of Guru Gobind Singh to the young generation.

2.    Ganguly quits Bengal human rights panel

i. Former Supreme Court judge, Justice (Retd) A.K. Ganguly has stepped down from his post as West Bengal Human Rights Commission (WBHRC), sources said.

ii. Ganguly reportedly tendered his resignation during a meeting with West Bengal Governor M.K. Narayanan on Monday evening at the Raj Bhavan.

iii. Accused of harassing a law intern, Ganguly has been in the eye of a storm with pressure mounting on him to step down from the post of a WBHRC Chairman.

iv. The intern’s allegations created a media furore; with a section of lawyers, politicians and activists calling for the country’s top court to investigate the incident and for the accused judge to be named publicly.

 Note:  Three days ago, Ganguly stepped down from the post of honorary professor of the National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS). He quit the post after some members expressed their reservation over his continuation.

3.    Jains to be included in list of minority communities, says Minority Affairs Minister

i. Minority Affairs Minister K Rahman Khan has said the Jain community will be added to the list of national minority communities. In an interview to a private news channel, Mr. Khan said the attorney general and the Law Ministry have cleared the proposal and a note has been sent to the Prime Minister's Office. 

ii. He said the draft of Equal Opportunity Commission as recommended by the Sachar Committee is with the Union Cabinet and it would be made into a law soon. He said all minorities would be covered and the Commission would have legal teeth. 

4.    Govt launches nation’s first comprehensive adolescent health programme

i. The Government today launched nation’s first comprehensive adolescent health programme, which will include a sharp focus on adolescents' sexual health.

ii. The programme envisions that all adolescents in India are able to realize their full potential by making informed and responsible decisions related to their health and well-being.

iii. He highlighted various programmes and initiatives by the Government which have brought about a transformational change in the health of the country.

iv. The Minister also informed that India will be declared a polio free country by the World Health Organization on January 13 which is a milestone for the Country.

v. Speaking at the launch of Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram(National Adolescent Health Programme) in New Delhi, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Ghulam Nabi Azad said the Government stands committed towards promoting adolescent health mission in the country and would address the health needs of 243 million adolescents who constitute 21 per cent of the total population in India.

5.    Janet Yellen appointed as new chairman of the Federal Reserve

i. Janet Yellen has been confirmed as the new chairman of the Federal Reserve, however her appointment was backed by the least Senate support on records indicating that the central bank is facing internal differences.

ii. Experts have said that the central bank is still facing scrutiny from political leaders even six years after the financial crisis.  The senate voted 56-26 to confirm Yellen as the new head of the central bank, indicating that she received least support from the leaders.

iii. Yellen, who will be the first woman to head the Federal Reserve, will lead the central bank at a troubling time as it is planning to roll back it stimulus package.

6.    Govt to launch scheme for Muslim adult education soon

i. Union HRD Minister M M Pallam Raju has said that government is soon going to launch an adult education scheme for Muslims above the age of 15 years.

ii. The scheme with a corpus of 600 crore rupees will ensure attainment of functional literacy by 1 crore muslim adults

iii. The scheme initially will be launched in 16 to 17 muslim concentrated districts across the country. 
iv. Apart from this a new scheme for skill development among minorities girls is proposed on the lines of HUNAR at the outlay of Rs 978 crores. It will benefit 9.2 lakh minorities girls. 

7.    India successfully test-fires Prithvi-II missile

i. India on Tuesday successfully test-fired its indigenously developed nuclear-capable Prithvi-II missile, which has a strike range of 350 kms and is capable of carrying warheads of upto 1000 kgs, from a test range in Odisha.

ii. The launch was part of a user trial by the Army. 

iii. Describing the trial of the sophisticated missile as a "complete success", Integrated Test Range Director M V K V Prasad said the launch conducted by the specially formed Strategic Forces Command (SFC) met all the parameters. 

iv. The surface-to-surface missile was test fired from a mobile launcher in salvo mode from launch complex-3 of the ITR at Chandipur near here at about 0948 hrs.

8.    Pravasi Bharatiya Divas begins

i. Engaging with the youth and discussions on healthcare will be key focus areas of Pravasi Bharatiya Divas 2014 which kicked off in New Delhi on Tuesday. 

ii. Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari highlighted the aim of creation of Ministry of Overseas Indians. 

iii. The Minister said that the Pravasi Bharatiya Platform should be more broadbased and expanded. 

iv. This year's theme is "Engaging Diaspora: Connecting Across Generations" and the Youth PBD is expected to open new horizons of a strong network of young overseas Indians to contribute to India's engagement with youth in all sectors. 

9.    Banks approach RBI to hike ATM transaction fee

i. Banks are likely to start charging customers for transacting more than five times a month at any bank ATM, including their own bank.

ii. Banks have mooted the charge on ATM transactions to pay for the increased security costs at ATMs, put in place by many State Governments, following the grievous attack on a woman inside an ATM kiosk in Bangalore last November.

iii. Currently, there is no cap on the number of transactions that a customer can undertake at his own bank’s ATM.

iv. However, the number of free transactions at other banks ATMs has been capped at five a month.

v. Banks may also down the shutters of some ATMs at night, especially at locations where footfalls are low.

vi. Last week, RBI Deputy Governor K.C. Chakrabarty said the regulator will have no objections if the lenders charge a ‘reasonable fee’ for the ATM services.

Interchange fee
i. Banks have requested the RBI to allow them to increase the ATM interchange fees (the fees paid by the card-issuing bank to the acquiring bank) to Rs 18 from Rs 15 a transaction now.

ii. Further, they want to pass on the costs arising from the interchange fee and switching fee to customers from the sixth transaction onwards.

10.  IICT scientist wins award

i. Lingaiah Nagarapu, Principal Scientist at the CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology has been honoured with the best scientist award of Science-Tech Foundation (STF), Bangalore, for 2013.

ii. Nagarapu has been selected for the award for his efforts in basic and applied research which resulted in the development of 15 technologies, 2 patents and 80 international publications.

11.  75th Senior National Table Tennis C’ship begins

i. The 75th Senior National Table Tennis Championship has begun in Patna this morning. The event will be formally inaugurated in the afternoon. 

ii. Six day long championship held at Patiputra sports complex in Patna where 34 Men and 30 women teams including top men’s players Sharad Kamal and Soumojit Ghosh are participating in the tournament.

iii. On the first three day of championship all teams will vie for the top honours while the rest three days will witness more electrifying contest in the men’s and women singles.

iv. The winners of the singles event will certainly get the edge to get selected in the Indian team for the forthcoming Commonwealth Games to be held in Scotland and Asian games to be held in South Korea.